


Lead Me Home

by Firuflies, starkaryen



Series: The Luconnor Project [3]
Category: Hannibal (TV), Jagten | The Hunt (2012), Shooting Dogs (2005)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Eventual Romance, First Meetings, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, of both movies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 22:36:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12220335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firuflies/pseuds/Firuflies, https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkaryen/pseuds/starkaryen
Summary: After the difficulties both Lucas and Joe had to overcome in their past, they decide it's time for a new beginning. It turns out, they end up teaching in the same school in Copenhagen.





	Lead Me Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [levi163](https://archiveofourown.org/users/levi163/gifts).



> Ok, so! As some of you may already know (but we have to explain again anyway), this project began more than a year ago, when we were both watching Shooting Dogs in summer, and suddenly @firuflies said "hey, you know who would be a _great_ rarepair for Joe...?". And thus, Luconnor was born (or, as we like to call them, the Softies)! From that moment, a small idea became a much bigger one, and soon it turned into a complete long story draft that only kept getting bigger and bigger. We've been thinking about this story ever since, adding more and more details and even writing a couple of [ficlets](http://archiveofourown.org/series/632240) in the way (but if you'd prefer to read this story without a single spoiler, don't read them!)  
>  Due to both of our schedules, we hadn't been able to sit down and write it before, but we set this year's #EatTheRare as our goal to publish this, and look at this, we've made it! We don't know how often we'll be able to publish this, but we are determined to tell this story, and even if it's slow, we hope it's steady.
> 
> Neither of us is Danish, but the places we describe in the fanfic and the facts are based on a couple of visits @firuflies made to the city of Copenhagen, as well as our own research. If there is something wrong, please let us know! ^^
> 
>  
> 
> ****
> 
> · This is for @Levi163, because she's the Softies' Godmother, and because she has been encouraging and cheering us from the first moment until this one. We love u<3
> 
> · Thanks a lot to @Llewcie for the wonderful beta<3
> 
> · [HERE](http://camilleflyingrotten.tumblr.com/post/154587436076/part-of-a-gift-from-firuflies-llewcie-radiomuse) is the first official art of the story, made by @CamilleFlyingRotten, and there are links to other arts/edits/etc in the [Luconnor Project](http://archiveofourown.org/series/632240) ao3 page.
> 
> · [HERE](https://open.spotify.com/user/kate_angel/playlist/2ycV6jQJV9guOEvrdWvlP1) is a spotify playlist we have put together, of songs that reminded us of them, or even songs that will appear somehow in the story.

**F A L L.**

Lucas’ first day was as typical as first days can go: long enough to feel like a week and too short for him to be able to process all the information he was exposed to.

It wasn’t his first time in Copenhagen, but it was in this school, and after all that had happened during the last years, it felt like the first day of a completely different life. He had chosen Copenhagen to start over because it was the exact opposite of his small village: big, anonymous and full of new opportunities. This soon translated into a job offer at a school and an apartment in the city big enough for himself and Marcus, if he decided he wanted to stay with him. The headmaster in the school was aware of his case, and welcomed him with open arms and the guarantee of discretion. What else could he ask for?

He spent the whole of that first morning with the headmaster going through all the different classes he would be responsible for and becoming familiar with the facilities, and the place had proven to be big enough for it to take a large part of the morning. The tour ended in the teacher’s lounge, where Mr. Hjort left him alone for the first time that day, when he had to go solve a problem with one of the older kids’ registration.

As soon as the Headmaster left, Lucas sighed and looked around him. The room was dominated by a big table set in the middle, surrounded by chairs and several pigeonholes lined up along two of the walls. Some of them were full, waiting for the teachers to come back, and he noticed there were two empty ones at the end of one of the rows. One would be for him, he presumed, so he approached it to leave his bag. In a corner near it, he saw a long but smaller table with a selection of coffee and tea on it, and next to it a sofa that was big enough to sit two people.

On that same sofa, and making him realize for the first time that he was not completely alone in the room, there was what looked like one of the older students, holding a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other. His first thought was that maybe he was the student the Headmaster had gone to talk to, but he didn’t seem to be expecting anyone. The student didn’t seem to have noticed Lucas so he cleared his throat before addressing him.

“ _I am sorry, but this is for teachers only_ ,” he said in Danish.

“ _Sorry…_ Eh, I... English?” The young man replied, with a heavy British accent. He seemed more confused about the language than alarmed at being found there.

“You can’t be here,” Lucas repeated in English. “And I don’t think your classes start until next week.”

“I’m a bit confused; they asked me to wait here…” He closed the book and set it next to him on the sofa. His attention was now entirely focused on Lucas, but he still didn’t seem eager to move, or even a little bit worried.

“Oh, are you on…” Lucas paused for a second, looking for the right term in English. “Are you on detention?”

The young man seemed to be repressing a smile, and Lucas could see he might have said something funny. Maybe he had chosen the wrong word, after all. He didn’t have time to look for a different one, because the young man spoke again.

“No… They are giving me a tour. I just got transferred from England and they thought it would a good idea to show me around before everyone else gets here, so I get used to the new system and all that…”

“Oh.” Lucas scratched his head, confused. Maybe he hadn’t understood him correctly. “But how do they plan to get you started with only the primary teachers around? Are you having private lessons?”

“Well, yes, I am getting some private lessons on Danish but they assured me I would be okay with only English. It’s what I will be teaching, after all...”

The moment the apparently not so young man in front of him said those last words, Lucas felt the air getting thicker around him and all the blood in his body rushing to his face. He was a teacher, an _adult_ teacher, and everything Lucas wanted in that moment was for the Earth to open and swallow him whole.

****

If Joe had to describe his first day in the new school, he would probably choose ‘boringly pleasant’. The first, because no one had been able to actually pay any attention to him as they got ready to receive the younger groups starting that week, but they had been so nice to him he couldn’t see himself being sore about it. After wandering for a bit around the school, he had lost hope and he had armed himself with a book and a cup of tea from the teacher’s lounge, and taken the sofa there hostage as he waited for someone to find him.

As he was just halfway through his tea, this handsome Danish guy came into the room and confused him with an intruding student. What a fantastic way to make a new friend.

The realisation of what had just happened dawned on Joe as he saw the other man’s face change from a normal tone of skin to red in a second, matching the sweater he was wearing. He then proceeded to stare at him, seemingly deep in thought about what to say next and how to break this awkward silence. Joe decided to break it for him before things got worse, so he straightened in the sofa and cleared his throat.

“Did you think I was…?”

“I am so sorry!” the man blurted out, moving to a chair next to where he was and sitting on it. “It’s been a long morning and you look…”

Joe raised an eyebrow at this, amused at the man’s difficulty to get the words out.

“I look… what?”

The man opened his eyes really big, aware of what he just had said. He seemed to be having a really bad time, but Joe felt entitled to use his right to be slightly offended

“You know… Well, you look young.”

“I’m 32,” Joe replied quickly, before drinking from his tea to hide his smile behind the mug in the process.

“ _Fuck.”_ The man pinched the bridge of his nose. “I… I’m really sorry…”

The man then stayed silent for a moment, stood up from his chair, walked to the sofa and extended his hand towards Joe.

“I’m Lucas, and I sincerely apologize for what just happened.”

Joe shook his hand without standing up from the sofa, and not very sure of what was happening anymore.

“Joseph, Joe. And it’s fine… Just, don’t tell me off again, maybe,” he joked, a smirk finally escaping his lips.

The other man, Lucas, blushed again but this time it was followed by a tiny shy smile.

Joe was really trying not to laugh at this point, but Lucas dropped his hand and turned to the coffee machine, where he started fiddling with it in a poor attempt to end this awkward situation.

Fortunately for both of them, Mr. Hjort decided to come into the room in that very moment. Jacob Hjort was a slender man that, despite being older, still maintained the energy and passion of any younger and less experienced teacher. Joe hadn’t had the chance to talk with him for more than five minutes that day, but he had already left a great impression in him during his interviews the weeks before. Lucas seemed to like him too, as he smiled fondly the moment he saw him approaching them both. Or maybe he was just happy he was there to break the moment.

“Ah, I see you two have already met! Perfect,” Jacob said in his accented but correct English.

Joe stood up in that moment, as Lucas stepped closer to them both.

“Yes, we _have_ met…” Joe said, looking at Lucas with a meaningful smile and making him blush once again. He should _not_ be enjoying making the other man blush this much, and yet…

“I’m glad. I wanted to talk to you two together, in fact, so you’ve made this easier. I thought you both could benefit from each other these first weeks,” he said, and Joe – and most probably, Lucas too – frowned, confused. “You’re both new teachers here, Joe doesn’t know Danish very well, and maybe you could benefit from learning better English,” Jacob finished, looking at Lucas as he said that last thing.

Joe and Lucas looked at each other then, and Joe was the first to shrug affirmatively.

“Alright?” Jacob asked, and they both nodded.

After they both got their bags and made plans for the following week, the headmaster walked them both to the school’s main doors, and said goodbye to them shaking their hands and telling them he’d _see them in a week_. As soon as he walked inside and they were alone again, Joe turned to the Lucas and saw him pocketing his hands in his jacket, trying very hard not to look at Joe. He smiled and cleared his throat.

“Hey, why don’t we… go grab something to eat?” Joe suggested, and that made Lucas look up from his own shoes. “Mr. Hjort said we could benefit from each other, so… The least we could do is get to know each other a little?”

Lucas gave him a little smile and nodded.

“That sounds good.However, I know this should be my area, since I’m from the country, but... I don’t know this neighbourhood very well,” Lucas said, grimacing a bit as if he was expecting Joe to be disappointed.

“It’s okay, I think I know _just_ the place,” Joe said, a big smile taking over him.

“I thought you had just moved here…?” Lucas started to say as Joe turned around a couple of times, trying to decide the way.

“I have, yes- well… I moved a few weeks ago and used the time to become familiar with the new place. Ah, this way...”

Guided by Joe, they started walking towards the main street leading to the center of Copenhagen, or to one of the many cafes around the area.

“So, after a few days of eating from Netto, I decided to try some restaurants and found this place next to…” Joe paused for a second, wrinkling his nose in preparation of what he was about to try to pronounce, “[Amagertorv boulevard](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Amagertorv,+1160+K%C3%B8benhavn,+Dinamarca/@55.6787019,12.5768136,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x46525310d759fac9:0x35e8e7dda8df7896!8m2!3d55.6787004!4d12.5779079?dcr=0)…”

Lucas stopped in place as he heard this, and looked at him with a serious expression on his face. Joe knew his Danish was terrible; that was the point of them getting to know each other better, but he wasn’t expecting such a reaction…

“I am sorry, was that super wrong…?”

“No, I… Amagertorv, that’s...” he said, the bastard pronouncing it perfectly, and also completely different, to Joe’s dismay. “That’s more than forty minutes away from here.”

“I walked there last time,” Joe shrugged, but he _just_ remembered that he had, indeed, taken a long walk in which he had ended up finding that place by chance.

“Why didn’t you just rent a bike?”

“Can you rent bikes around here…?”

“Well…” Lucas turned around slowly and pointed to the shop a little behind them, which read _BIKE RENTAL_ in big, English letters, next to the smaller Danish sign.

Joe bit his lower lip, but ended up chuckling. “I’m so sorry, I’m the worst at… _noticing_ things.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow and Joe laughed again, as if this was a _small_ thing to notice, and the man finally smiled.

“Alright, so… How about we rent a bike and we cycle to the place? When in Denmark… right?” Joe said, already walking backwards to the bikes’ station.

Lucas smiled and nodded, following him.

****

Their trip to the place Joe had talked about took them a little less than an hour, time enough for Lucas to almost crash into Joe a couple of times because he _needed_ to stop... and ask him what that sign with the bike on it meant: “Is it prohibited? Is it bikes only? Man, this country is confusing…” and going a bit too fast for the non-Danish man, after which they finally arrived at the place. As they parked the bikes in front of a building, he noticed that Joe was a bit breathless, even though it hadn’t been a long ride.

“Well, where is this magical restaurant?” asked Lucas, looking around the street full of shops, except for what looked like a Chinese restaurant, its lights brightening half of the street from the windows in the second floor.

“Just here,” replied Joe, as he proceeded to climb a short flight of stairs that led to a single door.

Lucas followed and once they both had reached the entrance of the restaurant he took Joe’s arm, to talk to him out of the reach of the waiters’ ears.

“Constellation Burger? The best restaurant you could find in the whole of Copenhagen is a burger place...?”

Joe smirked and shrugged a little. “I didn’t know where to go, _and_ I was pleasantly surprised,” he said, and he stepped in front of Lucas as he grabbed the doorknob. “Also, I thought we all learned today you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”

Lucas felt himself blushing at the reminder of his mistake earlier, but right after saying that, Joe opened the door and walked inside, a waiter rushing to assist him. Lucas smiled despite himself and followed the man. The waiter guided them to a corner with a blue booth, where they sat across from each other and were left alone with a giant menu. Lucas wasn’t judging as Joe said, but this place was, indeed, _really_ weird; the food options were giant burgers on the menu, and Chinese and Japanese food in a buffet. And they could choose both at the same time. On the back, next to the bar, there was a karaoke playing a song that none of the customers was paying attention to. Probably this was one of the weirdest places in all Denmark, and Joe had been able to find it in his short stay.

All the burgers were named after the astral signs that hanged from the ceiling, and looked huge enough to feed them for two days, so Lucas decided to order the simplest burger they had on the menu. Meanwhile, Joe was apparently feeling adventurous or ravenous, since he went for a burger _and_ access to the buffet. After they had ordered, Joe stood up and walked towards the buffet. When he came back with a plate full of a variety of Asian food, Lucas stared at him with a puzzled expression. Lucas was about to ask him how he could be so hungry, but Joe smiled at him and leaned forwards, placing his elbows on the table.

“So… where were you living before coming to Copenhagen? I don’t know what it is, but I don’t think you’re French…”

Lucas smiled at the man’s joke, and he shook his head.

“I… lived in a small village. Also in Denmark, but far away from here. I visited Copenhagen a couple of times, but… I had never lived here before.”

Lucas took his glass of water and took a long, big gulp after that, hoping the man wouldn’t ask him why had he left. But Joe merely nodded and took a sip of his soda.

“What about you?”

“Well, I… worked at Oxford University for a few years.”

The waiter arrived in that moment with their burgers, interrupting Lucas, who was about to reply. After he had left and Joe had made space in the table for his three dishes, Lucas cleared his throat as he watched Joe add ketchup to the burger, as well as a couple of other sauces unknown to Lucas.

“So how come you ended up in Denmark? I mean, Oxford University is quite a good place. Or at least far better than a school in Copenhagen.”

Joe looked up at him from the burger he was biting into, and after wiping his mouth with a napkin, he shrugged and looked down as he seemed to consider his answer.

“I don’t know. I guess I was ready for a change,” he said, shrugging with only one shoulder.

With that, they both fell into a silence that should have been quite awkward for two people who had just met... But Lucas didn’t feel uncomfortable at all, and Joe also seemed relaxed as they both focused on their food with the occasional shared glance and giggle at the random song that was playing in the karaoke.

When Lucas finished his burger and was halfway through his second beer, and Joe was still finishing his food, every customer in the restaurant stood up from their booth and approached the buffet with what looked like plastic containers in their hands.

“ _What the hell_ …” blurted Lucas without thinking on which language he was speaking.

“Hmm what?” Joe asked, and Lucas faced him again.

“Sorry. But did you see-” Lucas turned around to the buffet, observing how everyone filled their plastic containers with whatever food they liked and then proceeded to go to the register to pay and left the place. “They’re… taking the leftover food from the buffet,” Lucas said, as if it wasn’t clear enough.

Joe took the last piece of sushi he had left with his chopsticks and he nodded.

“Yeah, I thought it was funny when I first saw it. I take it it’s not a tradition in all of Denmark…?”

“No, it’s not… not _at all_ ,” Lucas chuckled and shook his head.

They both laughed again; everything was _so_ strange in that place, as if it belonged to another world entirely.

Once they had paid for their food, neither of them participating in the _tradition_ of taking food in a plastic container, they left and went back to their bikes. Lucas was putting on his messenger bag and already trying to remember the nearest bikes’ station to his house, but he still wasn’t too familiar with the area, so he would probably end up looking it up on the screen attached to the bike rack.

“Well. It was… truly a pleasure to meet you. And to share the experience of the weirdest restaurant ever with you,” Joe said then, raising his hand between them.

Lucas nodded and took his hand, shaking it slowly.

“It was nice meeting you, too. And, by the way…” Lucas said as they released each other’s hands, and he looked down, feeling himself blushing with embarrassment once again. “I’m really sorry about earlier, about-”

“Hey, Lucas, it’s okay, really,” Joe interrupted him, and Lucas looked up again. “I was merely teasing you a little. I could actually take it as a compliment; it's been a while since someone asked for my ID when buying alcohol.”

Lucas felt a bit of bravery growing inside him and he smirked to himself before actually acting on it.

“Well, are you sure you can still hold your alcohol? You still look quite small to me, compared to us Danish; maybe they have a point.”

Joe, who was unlocking his bike, stopped to look at Lucas, his mouth opened in a big circle.

“Wow, have you been munching on that all evening, old man?”

“Hey, I am not much older than you!”

“Well, I’m so sorry, it’s just- you _look_ old,” said Joe, trying to imitate Lucas voice from that same morning.

“Alright, I deserve that…” he admitted, raising both hands upwards and smiling a little.

Once they both got on their bikes and said their goodbyes, they started pedalling and in just a few seconds they realized that they were going on the same direction. They laughed at the classical awkward situation but just continued pedalling together for a while. Joe used the time to ask more random words in Danish, and almost crashing his bike against the pavement in the process of pointing at the objects, while Lucas tried to memorize the way home.

Suddenly and without either of them noticing it, Lucas turned to the right on one street, while Joe continue straight. Lucas hadn't still realized when he heard Joe’s voice behind him, disappearing into the distance: “See you on Monday, Lucas! Try not to tell more grown ups off until then!”

Lucas didn’t have the chance to reply to the joke this time, but the smile that accompanied him home was enough to compensate for the lost battle.

**Author's Note:**

> Say hi to us @ twitter: [firuflies](https://twitter.com/firuflies) and [mizumohno](https://twitter.com/mizumohno) :)
> 
> @Starkaryen: All information + links about my writing are [here](https://about.me/mizumohno).


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